We have common heroes

In July, at the initiative of the Chairman of the ROO-TPS of Mosmetrostroy workers Sergei Steshenko, at the central office of the Open Joint Stock Company "Russian Railways" a meeting was held between the active members of the Council of War and Labor Veterans of Mosmetrostroy and the leadership of the Council of Veterans of JSC Russian Railways.

Since its formation in 1937, our trade union organization has been part of the Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of Russia (ROSPROFZHEL). Therefore, first of all, at the meeting, Sergei Steshenko presented Nikolai Nikiforov, Chairman of the Council of Veterans of JSC Russian Railways, in the recent past - Chairman of the Central Committee of the Trade Union, with a medal issued in honor of the 90th anniversary of the trade union organization Mosmetrostroy and memorable gifts. On behalf of Mosmetrostroy JSC, Chairman of the Veterans Council Boris Prigoda presented the Russian Railways veterans with the book “Unknown Metrostroy”.

The biography of Mosmetrostroy is inseparable from the history of the development of railways, because we are building underground railway routes. Until 1954, Metrostroy was under the authority of the People's Commissariat of Railways. Already during the completion of the construction of the first stage of the Moscow subway, metro builders were entrusted with survey, design and construction work on laying railways, tunnels and other objects along the NKPS line.

Among them, one cannot fail to note the construction of a strategic railway tunnel under the Amur in the Khabarovsk region, one of the leaders of which wasIlya Gotsiridze. Head of the construction of the Mayakovskaya and Krasnye Vorota metro stations, head of Metrostroy, then Deputy People's Commissar of Railways, head of the USSR Railway Troops, at the same time head of the Main Directorate of Military Reconstruction Work of the NKPS, in 1954 - 1963 - Deputy Minister of Transport Construction of the USSR; Among his numerous awards are three Orders of Lenin, the Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree, the Battle Red Banner, three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Stalin Prize - these are the milestones of the glorious biography of the famous metro builder and railway worker.

Veterans of Mosmetrostroy and Russian Railways shared unique documents from that now distant era. In particular, the leaders of the Council of Veterans of Russian Railways handed over to Mosmetrostroy veterans documents testifying to the activities of the legendary metro builder Ivan Zubkov.

More than 500 Moscow metro builders, who arrived with him in January 1941 in Leningrad to build the metro, covered themselves with unfading glory during the heroic defense of the northern capital during the Great Patriotic War. They erected concrete defensive structures on the Pulkovo Heights and the Karelian Isthmus, laid temporary railway tracks, and restored bridges.

In January-February 1943, as part of the 2nd Directorate of the Military Reconstruction Region, commanded by the Director General of Railways and Construction (Lieutenant General)Ivan Zubkov, metro builders, together with railway workers and city residents, under constant enemy shelling and bombing, built a 33-kilometer railway in 17 days. railway line Shlisselburg - Polyany with three bridges, called the Victory Road.

Over the course of just over a year, four million tons of cargo were delivered to the city. Siege survivors called Zubkov the savior of Leningrad, and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded him the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. Many other metro builders were also awarded.

Also during the war years, one of the heads of Metrostroy divisionsIvan Yatskov became a Hero of Socialist Labor. Under his leadership, metro builders restored and laid railways, bridges and tunnels in the Caucasus, Crimea, and Carpathians, with heroic labor accelerating the victorious advance of the Red Army to the West. Ivan Alekseevich devoted his entire working life to Mosmetrostroy and had unquestioned authority.

For more than 20 years, Yatskov headed TO-6 and was a mentor to many famous metro builders. But back in the early 1950s, he, being the deputy head of Construction No. 6 of the Ministry of Railways on the construction of an underwater railway tunnel that was supposed to connect Sakhalin Island with the mainland, became the first mentor of shift engineer Yuri Koshelev, the future head of Mosmetrostroy, the head of Glavtunnelmetrostroy, the future Hero of Socialist Labor. Veterans of Russian Railways, many of whom knew him personally, also remembered Yuri Anatolyevich with warm words.

At the meeting, veterans also recalled the continuity of interaction between Russian Railways and Mosmetrostroy in more recent times. Many metro builders in the early 1970s were sent to the All-Union Komsomol shock construction of BAM, and among the first BAM members who were awarded the title of Heroes of Social Labor were: head of the Bamtonnelstroy DepartmentVladimir Bessolov,former chief engineer of SMU-3 of Mosmetrostroy and foreman of tunnelers TO-11 Valentin Tolstoukhov, former foreman of the SMU-10 tunnelers of Mosmetrostroy.

And at the present time, joint projects of Mosmetrostroy and Russian Railways are being implemented. In 2019, a unique reconstruction of the railway tunnel named after. Stalin in the Far East. There, until 2024, construction of a bypass section Shkotovo - Smolyaninovo is planned, and in the future BAM-2.

As a result of the meeting, the veterans agreed on closer cooperation, on joint activities to preserve historical memory and promote our common heroism.